On my desk (painting spree)

I got 250 miniatures coming with the kickstarter (or around that) and I need to get to painting. So my warhammer is on pause for a bit as I focus more on some of the minis for pathfinder.

I posted an earlier summoner in the 'show off' forum and got a lot of tips on using thinner paints. I have been experimenting with that on the iconic monk, Sajan, miniature.

This is how he looked at the start of my evening:

The skin is pretty much finished, but I would love pointers.

After 3 hours of painting he is here:

Now this is all very work in progress. I 'finished' the skirt thing. I tried to stick to the original paintscheme, but failed at recreating that specific color of 'white'. The zig-zag triangles in the freehand in the original are beyond my skill with freehand at the moment, maybe if anyone can recommend a good really small brush I could get locally.

The blue bits are all WIP, as are the red and yellow. I will be working more on him tonight. The thinner paint thing is already leading to interesting results.

I think it looks pretty nice, and I really like the way you've made the muscling stand out with layers of color. The one thing I thought would make it look sharper would be a bright white on the light parts of the skirt. Then I saw you mentioned you were trying to recreate a certain shade. Not sure what you're going for here since you are trying to recreate something specific, but would you be against using something closer to a true white? Might be me, but I thought it would make the other colors (particularly the yellow) pop a little more.

You're getting it. The thinner paint is good even when painting armies. I just use water, but you can go to flow improvers or Future Floor stuff if you want. You'll get more control when building up the layers.

I liked the Summoner you painted, but I think this guy will come out cleaner. Carry on!!

The bands between your layers on the skin are to broad. I would go back in with a glaze of either the mid-tone or the shadow which will help ease that transition between your layers. Also some of your highlights are in odd places. For instance on the abdominal muscles it looks like your highlight color is at the bottom half of the muscle rather than on the top edge of the muscle.

If you aren't familiar with glazes they are essentially a wash that is thinned down even further. When you draw your brush across a piece of paper you only want to see a hint of color. Apply the glaze until your transitions between colors is less noticeable.

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@Matbar: Yeah... the original is white-er as well. It is bothering me, I will try more white tonight.

@Joshuaslater: Still no access to flow improvers, might have access next month. :)

@Heisler: I have no idea what a glaze is, but my immediate question would be if a glaze is meant to make your blends look better won't you need a lot of different shades of it? As for the anatomy, I am not that good at it I am afraid. :)

A glaze is transparent. When you apply it over the whole area (don't slop it, just a thin consistent layer) it colour shifts everything under it a tiny bit. This brings layers closer together in colour, if you see what I mean, and also it makes the edges between colours harder to spot. Used right, it can make it look like you spent a good deal more time smoothing your layers than you really did.

it can also be used to intensify colour with inks or Clear Brights, and other neat tricks, like colour-shifting, for example a red that was too eye-popping could be glazed with something a little bluish or greenish, or if your layered red highlights were a bit too pink you might warm them up with a red glaze, if your highlighted black was turning too grey you could give it a blue glaze.

It's the perfect time to put on your yellow boots and go meandering around the woods looking for...well stuff. In my experience looking for stuff is the best way to find it. -Loim

A glaze is transparent. When you apply it over the whole area (don't slop it, just a thin consistent layer) it colour shifts everything under it a tiny bit. This brings layers closer together in colour, if you see what I mean, and also it makes the edges between colours harder to spot. Used right, it can make it look like you spent a good deal more time smoothing your layers than you really did.

it can also be used to intensify colour with inks or Clear Brights, and other neat tricks, like colour-shifting, for example a red that was too eye-popping could be glazed with something a little bluish or greenish, or if your layered red highlights were a bit too pink you might warm them up with a red glaze, if your highlighted black was turning too grey you could give it a blue glaze.

Interesting. Do anything but Reaper paints carry glazes? Because I still do not have access to reaper paints over here. I think Citadel has something? But I really prefer dripper bottles. I do aim to desaturate that red btw.

Nice skin!

Could you point me towards the thread where you received tips on the skin? I didn't have luck finding your original post on the Show Off forum. Thanks!

Insert here the usual warning that you should do the eyes first since they're the easiest to blotch up when painting a figure.

Or if you can paint eyes after finishing the face, let me know some tips because I can't paint eyes worth blotch! :D

I did not specifically recieve feedback on the skin, more on general 'use less thick paint', which I am trying. :) The skin is really just a dwarf skin color, with a light-ish wash, then highlighted back up in 3-4 layers. Oh and apparantly there might be glazes involved soon. :D

I had not thought about eyes like that. Though I hate eyes and I might just end up just putting in solid color dark grey or something. I can't paint eyes worth blotch either! Is gonna be hell!

So I made more progress, about two more hours in:

Some notes: I intend to desaturate most of the stronger colors of this paintjob. I also rebased him to go on a round base, since this model will see play and round is more useful. I will be adding grass and tufts later.

A glaze can be done with thinned paint, or thinned paint with matte medium in it. Basically it's a wash, but you apply it so's that it doesn't run down into the cracks. Think of it as an ultra-thin all-over layer. GW glazes are kind of special-purpose and probably wouldn't work for this.

It's the perfect time to put on your yellow boots and go meandering around the woods looking for...well stuff. In my experience looking for stuff is the best way to find it. -Loim

Alright I shall try eyes as well, good gawd this is gonna hurt. :P And yeah I do paint slowly, no progress at the moment. I had to rush a hellborn troll for tabletop and some tomb guard for Warhammer. The monk is on my list the moment I finish the tomb guard.

Here he is after I put in a bunch of work on everything under his torso. I have not dared to touch the eyes yet. :) And he still needs work on his bracers, but he is starting to come together. Still trying to get the red to work, though the colors are growing on me.